San Raffaele Spring School of Philosophy 2018 – SRSSP

The Faculty of Philosophy at Vita-Salute San Raffaele University in Milan is glad to announce the International Conference and Spring School:

Unpacking Political Agency

Equality, Vulnerability, Discrimination

San Raffaele Spring School of Philosophy 2018 (SRSSP 2018)

Milan, June 5-7, 2018

What does it mean to be a political agent? Is it a status that needs to be acknowledged to any member of a democratic polity or do people need to fulfil some requirements to be treated as agents?

In very general terms, an agent is a being with the capacity to act, and ‘agency’ denotes the exercise or manifestation of this capacity. While personal agency entails the capacities to form, realize, and revise temporally extended plans political agency involves the capacity to act in concert with others by exercising political power. On the one hand, this means that individual political agency is contingent on other people; as a consequence, if a person becomes ‘isolated’ from others or excluded by others, her political agency decreases. On the other hand, the relationship between power and political agency entails that the exercise of political agency deeply affects others because it can limit their freedom to pursue what they desire.

The Faculty of Philosophy at Vita-Salute San Raffaele University in Milan is glad to announce the International Conference and Spring School:

Unpacking Political Agency

Equality, Vulnerability, Discrimination

San Raffaele Spring School of Philosophy 2018 (SRSSP 2018)

Milan, June 5-7, 2018

NEW DEADLINE: February 5th, 2018

What does it mean to be a political agent? Is it a status that needs to be acknowledged to any member of a democratic polity or do people need to fulfil some requirements to be treated as agents?

In very general terms, an agent is a being with the capacity to act, and ‘agency’ denotes the exercise or manifestation of this capacity. While personal agency entails the capacities to form, realize, and revise temporally extended plans political agency involves the capacity to act in concert with others by exercising political power. On the one hand, this means that individual political agency is contingent on other people; as a consequence, if a person becomes ‘isolated’ from others or excluded by others, her political agency decreases. On the other hand, the relationship between power and political agency entails that the exercise of political agency deeply affects others because it can limit their freedom to pursue what they desire.

The School intends to focus on the following topics:

a) political agency and equality: Which are the grounds to justify equal political agency? Should political agency be equally ascribed to any member of the polity or their acknowledgement as political agents depend upon qualities that can be unequally distributed? Is political agency a status that is permanently acknowledged to citizens or can they lose it?

b)political agency and migration: Should migrants be acknowledged as political agents? Are there some requirements that migrants should meet to be included as political agents? Is differentiated inclusion admissible? Which are the procedures that can ensure the inclusion of migrants as political agents? Does political agency entail a commitment to the values and history of the country of destination?

c) political agency and vulnerability: Can vulnerability be defined as having a decreased capacity to protect oneself from harm? In this section, we will consider contributions aiming at providing an adequately theorized conception of vulnerability that can assess or justify the interventions and practices invoked in its name. May an adequate conception of vulnerability account also for the strategies and responses that are necessary to overcome it?

d) political agency and discrimination: Are the democratic promises of equal respect and possibilities for all citizens really kept? Which models of democratic exchange ensure the deliberative expression of differences in the public sphere? And why do others fail to do so? Sexism, racism, and other forms of discrimination based on class, religion, disability, and so on, are still rife in the socio-political realm. Our main (but by no means exclusive) interest is in discussing gender inequalities: what do gender asymmetries mean for agency? How can certain agents be pushed to the margins of inquiry (epistemic injustice) and deliberation (discursive injustice)?

e) political collective agency: Do collective subjects have political agency? What forms, identities, and structures (e.g. spontaneous or institutionalized) do political collective subjects have? What is the relation between the identity of the collective subjects and their political efficacy? There seems to be no necessary relation between institutionalized or stable identities and political efficacy (e.g. the feminist movement in the XX century).

Invited Speakers

Saray Ayala López (California State University, Sacramento)

Ian Carter (University of Pavia)

Olivia Guaraldo (University of Verona)

Gloria Origgi (Institut Jean Nicod, DR2 CNRS) ­

Lea Ypi (LSE, London)

Submissions must be prepared for double blind review. Manuscripts – in .doc format – should not contain any identifying information and they cannot exceed 4000 words (references included). Moreover, they must be accompanied by a separate cover sheet containing:

Submissions should be sent to socialworld@hsr.it by the 5th of February, 2018. Acceptance will be notified by the 26th of March, 2018. Accepted papers will be selected for presentation and for publication on the related issue of Phenomenology and Mind (http://www.phenomenologyandmind.eu/).

Milan has 3 important airports; Malpensa, Linate and Orio al Serio Airport.Malpensa Airport is located in the northwest of the city near Varese and is Italy’s most important airport in terms of international traffic.
It is connected to Milan by the Milano-Varese highway as well as by the “Malpensa Express” train starting from the Milan Cadorna railway station, which takes about 40 minutes.

Linate Airport is one of the two major airports of Milan. It is in the southeast of the city and nearest to the San Raffaele Hospital & University. It is mainly used for domestic and short-haul international flights.

Orio al Serio Airport is located in Orio al Serio, in the southeast of Bergamo and is considered part of Milan’s airport system together with Linate and Malpensa.

Reaching San Raffaele: the closest underground station is CASCINA GOBBA (MM green line 2). From there you can either take the shuttle train – a one minute trip – to HSR for which you will have to buy another ticket (1,30 euro), or take the 925 bus (direction Piazza Udine) which stops in front of San Raffaele.This latter is a 5 minutes trip, with the same ticket used for the underground (single ticket: 1,50 euro).

From Linate Airport:• 10 minutes drive by Taxi (fare around 20 euros).
• Air Bus to the central railway station of Milan ‘Stazione Centrale’ (MM green line 2; https://www.atm.it/it/AltriServizi/Trasporto/Pagine/airbus.aspx).
• Bus n° 73 to Piazza San Babila (MM red line 1).From Orio al Serio Airport:This airport is near the city of Bergamo and 1 hour’s drive from Milano.
• Bus to the central railway station of Milan ‘Stazione Centrale’ (MM green line 2).
• Bus to ‘Lambrate’ railway station (MM green line 2).ORIO SHUTTLE From Malpensa Airport:• 50 minutes drive from Milano (taxi fare: 90 euros).
• Malpensa Express Train to Cadorna station (MM green line 2) railway station.
• Malpensa Bus Express to the central railway station of Milan ‘Stazione Centrale’ (MM green line 2).
• Shuttle Air Pullman to the central railway station of Milan ‘Stazione Centrale’ (MM green line 2).

Taxis:You can find Taxis outside all airports, railway or underground stations and in many streets and squares of the city. Should you need to find or book a taxi you can dial the following numbers:
Yellow taxi: 02/6969 – Radio Taxi: 02/8585 – Taxiblu: 02/4040